You can read all 349 pages (http://www.montgomeryparks.org/uploads/2016/08/2017PROS-PUBLIC.HEARING.DRAFTandAPPENDICES.pdf).

Make you own comments or submit something like the following in your own words to Planning Board Chair Anderson at mcp-chair@mncppc-mc.org

"MNPS leads dozens of field trips every year in Montgomery County’s “Best Natural Areas” and other natural areas in the parks. Our members participate in these field trips to identify and enjoy the diversity of native plants. That diversity has significantly declined in recent years as natural areas are damaged by non-native invasive plants overrunning many areas, uncontrolled stormwater destroying steam valley habitats, and deer wiping out understory plants and causing unnatural alteration of native plant communities. MNPS advocates increased stewardship of existing natural areas and the acquisition of additional natural areas before they are lost to development."

10/31/2016 3:26 PM |
Anonymous

The Norton Brown Herbarium at the University of Maryland is in danger of being shut down. It holds the largest collection of Maryland specimens in existence and continues to collect, documenting the changes in distribution of our flora. Read the letter from MNPS to University officials here. And please write your own letter. Maryland needs this critical scientific resource.

The Maryland Native Plant Society strongly urges the Planning Commission to not consider adding multi-use trails into the globally rare, old-age Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park (Travilah Serpentine Barrens; Hunting Hill Serpentine Barrens) in Montgomery County, Maryland, as well as similar highly sensitive natural areas. Moreover, we feel that proposals for such are not in accordance with Best Management Practices and sustainable planning principles for quality natural area sites. The preservation and future sustainability of natural area sites and the overarching principle of “Do No Harm” should guide all efforts in this regard.

The Travilah Serpentine Barrens (Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park) is the mid-Atlantic region's stellar example of a globally-rare, forested serpentinite community. This vegetation type once comprised many thousands of acres in the area of Montgomery County west of Potomac and Rockville, with about 1,000 acres of this rare local landscape preserved today. Serpentinite is an ultramafic rock derived from magnesium-rich silicate materials that typically weathers to a soil that is high in magnesium and iron.

As you know, the Travilah Serpentine Barrens hosts numerous R,T,&E species, almost all of which are scattered throughout the woodlands. Additionally, a mosaic of several state and globally rare natural community types comprise much of the site, including:

(Quantitative compositional and environmental data were collected from four 400 m² sample plots. Plots were sampled using the relevé method (sensu Peet et al. 1998). All natural community data were analyzed using a combination of cluster analysis, statistical analyses, and ordination by the Maryland Wildlike and Heritage Program and Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage (DCR-DNH) as part of the United States National Vegetation Classification (USNVC)-National Park Service, National Capital Region (NCR) project.)

In addition to numerous R,T,&E species and natural communities in harm’s way of proposed multi-use trails at the site, several additional factors have increasingly been found to be highly damaging to exceptionally-rare and sensitive natural resources throughout the greater region.

It is now widely recognized that invasive exotic species are perhaps the greatest threat to natural areas and global biodiversity (Vitousek et al. 1996, Knight et al. 2009), second only to habitat loss resulting from development and urbanization. Unfortunately, this trend is expected to increase.

Chinese Silvergrass (Miscanthus sinensis) is slowly seeding into the large, formerly pristine open grassy area under the powerline along with Ravenna-grass (Tripidium ravennae), from ornamental grass plantings of nearby residences along Palatine Street. A large clone of Common Reed (Phragmites australis ssp. australis) has become established in a damp swale under the power line. Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) and other non-native invasive plants of disturbed soil areas are also increasing their presence at the site.

Careful stewardship management is urgently needed to eradicate these grasses and other invasive plants on site before they become established. Best Management Practices for the area under the power line also need to be discussed with PEPCO (or owner of utility) to minimize activities that cause soil disturbance and nutrient-loading via dumped organic material that alters soils structure and chemistry and causes the spread of non-native invasive plants.

Fortunately, most of the non-native invasive plants on site are confined to the edges of the gravel road that traverses the property under the power line. The forested interiors of the site are still largely pristine and free of invasive plants. However, that will undoubtedly change if multi-use trails are allowed and constructed.

The spread of invasive species correlates directly with soil disturbance, especially when activities creating disturbance are located near a source of invasive species producing seed material. Moreover, seed material from a source near or far can be transported into relatively pristine or undisturbed natural areas, such as interior forest, where it can persist dormant in the seed bank indefinitely until a disturbance mechanism, natural or otherwise, allows it to emerge (Honu et al. 2009).

Unprecedented numbers of White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), whose population increases directly correspond with human actions, are also causing severe disturbance to herbaceous and understory vegetation throughout forest communities in the eastern U.S. (Knight et al. 2009). Moreover, an overpopulation of deer results in new infestations of invasive exotic plants, especially Japanese Stiltgrass and Garlic Mustard, into hitherto undisturbed forest, as well as increasing the spread and abundance of invasive species (Knight 2009).

In conclusion, creating trails of any kind at the Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park would be highly damaging to fragile soils, geologic features, vegetation, and wildlife, as well as create an active disturbance mechanism for the spread of invasive exotic species. Additionally, constructing trails and artificial landscape features are not in any way congruent with Best Management Practices and ecological stewardship of rare and sensitive natural areas. Moreover, there is little need for trails, as the gravel road under the power line is more than sufficient for folks to traverse the site easily and safely.

Casey.Anderson@mncppc-mc.org asking that they refrain from placing multi-use trails in the fragile Serpentine Barrens.

Read what has already been said by ANS and West Mongtomery County Citizens Assn:

Dear Commissioner Anderson and Planning Commissioners,

I write to strongly support the letter sent to you tonight by Ginny Barnes, Co-Chair of the Legacy Open Space Advisory Group.

Audubon Naturalist Society has been a strong supporter of Legacy Open Space since its inception. We seekto create a larger and more diverse community of people who treasure the natural world and work to preserve it.

Legacy Open Space, through its long-term acquisition and preservation of uniquely important natural areas such as the Serpentine Barrens, serves the populace of the entire Washington, D.C. region. When it comes to unique and rare ecosystems such as the Serpentine Barrens, the objective must be to have the lightest possible human footprint -- so that these natural treasures will still exist for generations to come.

We join with Ms. Barnes in urging you to refrain from placing multi-use trails in fragile areas including our Serpentine Barrens.

As a member of the Trails Working Group, I received notice from Chuck Kines that with the proposed acquisition of these additional properties, which I certainly support, may come the opportunity to open trails in the Serpentine to multi- use. This is short notice for me and I'm unable to attend the Commission meeting tomorrow.

I vehemently oppose opening the Barrens to multi-use. For many years in the early 1990's, I and many others worked to save as much of this rare geological area as possible. John Parrish did much to bring to the attention to the area during the Potomac Master Plan revision process. Due to development pressures in the headwaters of Piney Branch and the approval of the Piney Branch sewer, we are now left with only a fragment of the original Serpentinite outcrop. Just enough to hold onto some interior forest dwelling wildlife and rare plant species populations. That now existing park is bisected by power lines, a further disturbance to many rare species found there. In the park management plan adopted, equestrians were given a designated trail through a small portion of the park and along rights-of-way adjacent to the park to foster equestrian connectivity and to safeguard the natural resources.

The approved 2007 Plan for this Park recognized the fragility of the thin soils and the importance of the rare plants and unique forest found there. It was concluded this park should be managed as a geological showcase with minimal intrusion to protect it. Thus natural surface trails and an interpretive program were envisioned to introduce citizens to a geology so rare, it is only found on 1% of the Earth's surface. Additional uses beyond hiking were considered threatening to the long term protection of the forest and ecosystem.

Allowing increased use of trails by horses and bikes facilitates erosion in already shallow soils and hastens the spread of invasive plants along trail corridors due to soil disturbance. I did not believe after such a strong case was made for the need to protect this of all parks from overuse, that we'd be revisiting the decisions made to preserve what makes it such a treasure to the County and indeed the East Coast.

With all due respect, any proposed changes to trail use should take place within a larger discussion in which the scientific expertise of parks stewardship staff is consulted since such a proposal constitutes a threat to a rare resource for which a management decision was previously and publicly vetted. .

Ten Mile Creek is facing a big, new threat. In December, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) unveiled a set of possible sewer options to provide service to the limited amount of development allowed in the Ten Mile Creek watershed. The problem is that all of these options involve putting sewer pipes and pump stations alongside and/or in the creek, its tributaries and the environmental buffer areas established by the Montgomery County Council last April! Yes, you read that right -- sewers and pump stations in the very areas that the Council designated as off-limits to development because protecting them is critical to maintaining the health of the creek and the quality of water it delivers to the reservoir. Clearly, this is unacceptable, and we thank everyone who has already contacted the Council and County Executive to express your concerns. We want to work with all stakeholders to find a way to provide sewer service withoutputting sewer infrastructure in the creek, tributaries, or established buffers. Working together, I'm confident we can find a solution, but we need your support.

Here's how you can help:

1) Send an Email:Let WSSC, the Council,and County Executive Leggett know that the original sewer proposals are unacceptableand they need to undertake a thorough and transparent review of all possible environmentally-responsible sewer alternatives, and find a solution that keeps sewers and sewer infrastructure OUT of the creek, its tributaries, and its environmental buffer areas.

Wednesday, March 25th from 7-9pmat the Upcounty Regional Services Center, Room A (12900 Middlebrook Road, Suite 1000, Germantown, Maryland). These meetings are open to the public, and we urge you to attend and show your continued support for the creek and reservoir.

3)Support Friends of Ten Mile Creek. Please consider joining us as a member, or, if you are already a member, making an additional contribution to support our on-going work to confront this new threat.

5)Email us (mail@tenmilecreek.org) if you know of an environmentally-minded sewer expert familiar with alternative sewer technologies (such as pressure sewers) who might be willing to advise

our organization.

That's the cliff-notes version. If you want to learn more, please keep reading below. Thank you for your continuing support.

All the best,

Tenley Elizabeth Wurglitz, President

Friends of Ten Mile Creek & Little Seneca Reservoir

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Long Version - The Ten Mile Creek Sewer Issue In Detail

Not quite one year ago, on April 1, 2014, we celebrated a victory that came after years of determined citizen activism. On that day, the Montgomery County Council voted unanimously to protect the health of Ten Mile Creek by strictly limiting the amount of development allowed in its watershed. Specifically, the Council's decision - codified in the Ten Mile Creek Limited Master Plan Amendment - set science-based limits on the amount of impervious surface (roads, houses, parking lots, etc.) allowed in the watershed and it put certain areas of the watershed off-limits to development altogether. Buffer areas were established around the creek's mainstem, its tributaries, and other sensitive areas like wetlands, seeps, springs, and interior forest habitat. Those protections were not arbitrary. After listening to and studying extensive testimony by leading scientists, the Council decided that protecting those areas is critical to protecting the health of the creek and the quality of water it delivers to Little Seneca Reservoir. That was last April. And each and every one of you contributed to that victory.

Now, fast-forward to this past December. On December 17, 2014, WSSC unveiled a set of potential options for providing sewer service for the limited amount of development that the Council voted to allow in the Ten Mile Creek watershed. To our collective shock, all five of WSSC's proposed options involve putting sewer pipes and pump stations alongside/in the creek's mainstem, its tributaries and through the environmental buffer areas established by the County Council last April. In other words, sewers and pump stations would be built in the very areas we thought were protected by the Council's unanimous decision. It goes without saying that this would cause irreparable harm to the creek. (One of our Board members, Cathy Wiss, has created a photo essay detailing the short and long-term damage that could be expected should these plans be approved.)

Some have asked if this is a bad joke. Unfortunately, it's not. It means we have to continue fighting to protect areas we already thought - and were assured by elected officials - were protected.

That's the bad news. The good news is that TOGETHER we can do this and we are already making good progress.

Thanks to the incredible deluge of emails and calls that you made over the past few months, we've put the Council and County Executive Leggett on notice that WSSC's original sewer proposals are unacceptable. You raised your voices and the Council heard you loud and clear-people all across the region still care about Ten Mile Creek and we're not going to stand by and see our hard-won protections trashed. And that's important because the Council will ultimately have to approve or reject any sewer plan that WSSC puts forward. We need the Council to stand firm on their commitment to protect Ten Mile Creek. (See FoTMC Board member Scott Fosler's testimony to the Council in January )

While we are making progress in raising the alarm about WSSC's proposed alternatives, we also understand that to successfully fend off this new challenge to the creek's health, we can't just say no -- we have to be part of the solution. To that end, Friends of Ten Mile Creek Board members have been busy meeting with Councilmembers, WSSC leadership, and others to explain why we need to push the restart button on this whole process. We are asking WSSC and Montgomery County to start over and undertake a thorough and transparent study of all possible alternatives that could be used to provide sewer service to the limited amount of development allowed in the watershed, while still -- and this is the critical bit -- meeting the County's commitment to give Ten Mile Creek the "extraordinary protection" it deserves. In plain English, this means that we want to work with all stakeholders - local residents, developers and others, to find sewer alternatives that do not involve putting sewer pipes, pump stations, or other sewer-related infrastructure alongside or in the creek's mainstem, its tributaries or the environmental buffer areas established by the Council.

We also want to help the long-suffering residents of Clarksburg's Historic District find a solution to their urgent need for sewer service. As many of you know, most of Clarksburg's Historic District (located within the Ten Mile Creek watershed) lacks public sewer service, a fact that has caused significant problems for its residents and businesses. We strongly support the Historic District's property owners in their quest to gain sewer connectivity - and we believe it's possible to provide sewer service to the Historic District without causing damage to Ten Mile Creek.

We're certainly not sewer experts and we don't pretend to be, but we are good researchers, and we know there are alternatives to the conventional, highly destructive gravity sewer options that WSSC has proposed. One particularly promising alternative appears to be pressure sewer systems - a technology that WSSC has extensive experience with in Montgomery County (check out p. 17 ofCathy's photo essay). And who knows, there may be other wastewater collection technologies out there that we haven't even heard of yet.

Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir areregionally significant resourcesthat have been deemed worthy of "extraordinary protection." Shouldn't that translate into a thorough, transparent, and dare we say, "extraordinary" searchfor all possiblesewer alternatives that will provide that protection?

We think so, and if you agree, here's how you can help:

1) Learn more:

One of our Board members (and Audubon Naturalist Society Water Quality Monitoring Program Coordinator), Cathy Wiss, has produced a brilliant photo essay detailing the short and long-term damage that would be caused by the sewer options that WSSC has proposed. There's also information about one potential alternative technology (pressure sewers) that may be a feasible way to provide sewer service to the watershed while still protecting the creek. Believe me, you're gonna be impressed!

Let them know what you think of WSSC's original proposalsand tell them we need to find a way to provide sewer service while still protecting the creek. That means that WSSC needs to do a thorough and transparent study of all possible environmentally-responsible sewer alternatives, and find a solution that keeps sewers and sewer infrastructure OUT of the creek, its tributaries, and its environmental buffer areas.(Even if you've already emailed the Council, I'm sure they'd love to hear from you again!)

4) Stand With Us:WSSC has convened a Citizens Advisory Committee to provide public input on the Ten Mile Creek sewer study. The Committee is composed of local residents, developers, and three of our Board members - Cathy Wiss, Anne James, and Jay Cinque. The committee's first meeting was in February and the second meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 25th from 7-9pmat the Montgomery County Government's Upcounty Regional Services Center, Room A (12900 Middlebrook Road, Suite 1000, Germantown, Maryland). These meetings are open to the public, and we urge you to attend and show your support for keeping sewers and sewage out of the creek and reservoir.We need to show WSSC and County leaders that people from all across our region still care about Ten Mile Creek and we're not going to stand by while our hard-won protections are trashed by sewers.

5) Email us immediately if you know an environmentally-minded sewer expert:We are urgently trying to find an environmentally-minded sewer expert familiar with alternative sewer technologies (such as pressure sewers) to advise Friends of Ten Mile Creek. (We've managed to learn a lot about sewer technologies in the last few months, but we're certainly not experts.) We are pursuing some leads, but if you know someone who fits the bill, we'd love to hear from you. Please email

Our fledgling organization is working hard to confront this new threat to the creek and we could use your financial assistance. As I mentioned, we are actively seeking a sewer expert to advise Friends of Ten Mile Creek and we may need to pay expenses, which could be significant. Please consider joining us as a member, or, if you are already a member, making an additional contribution to support our on-going work.

Thank you for staying with us in this effort to protect our last, best creek. Together, we won a highly protective plan last April and I'm confident we can confront this new challenge and succeed. And who knows, along the way, we may even find new methods to provide better protection to other area watersheds as well.

They were shocked to find out that all of the proposed sewer options involve laying sewer pipes in Ten Mile Creek and its stream valley, which would destroy creek habitat during the pipeline construction and leave Ten Mile Creek vulnerable to raw sewage leaks as the pipes age. This plan clearly violates the County and Leggett Administration's commitment to protect Ten Mile Creek.

The Montgomery County Council is holding a public hearing on the WSSC/County sewer plan on Tuesday, January 20, 2015. If we don't want our hard-won protections for Ten Mile Creek flushed, we must act now!

All the alternatives in the WSSC/County sewer plan are unacceptable (see our fact sheet and letter to the County Council ). They must be replaced with a plan that provides sewer service without putting sewer pipes in Ten Mile Creek. Such alternatives do exist and have been used before in Montgomery County.

Email or call the County Council and County Executive Leggett today (see sample email below) and tell them don't flush Ten Mile Creek protections-scrap this plan and hit the restart button on this process. We need a plan that keeps sewers and sewerage out of Ten Mile Creek!

Thank you in advance for taking action to protect the creek from this new threat!

All of the options presented in the WSSC/County study would do significant harm to Ten Mile Creek, its floodplain and its subwatersheds. The plan is clearly not based on the commitment to protect Ten Mile Creek as established in the Limited Master Plan Amendment.

The seemingly secretive, rushed and closed process that WSSC and the County have run to arrive at this sewer plan is equally troubling. As you know, Ten Mile Creek, our last, best creek and only clean, high-quality tributary to Little Seneca Reservoir is of regional significance. We deserve a voice in its protection-that's good government.

Please scrap the WSSC/County Ten Mile Creek/Clarksburg Sewer Service Alternatives plan and hit the restart button. Let's work together to craft a sewer plan that keeps pipes and sewage out of Ten Mile Creek!

Tuesday, October 29, 7 PM. Charles County Comprehensive Plan: Sign-up to speak begins as 5:30 PM. The resulting draft Comp. Plan before the BOCC is a disaster. The state has made negative comments of unprecedented number and intensity. You can find links to these comments at www.savecharlescounty.com, the website of SGACC. You can also help spread word by liking and following SGACC on Facebook. The present draft acknowledges no desire for conservation in nearly the entire county, and it kills Mattawoman Creek.

07/21/2013 9:42 PM |
Anonymous

County Council to cast votes on tree bills on July 23rd

Please contact the Council TODAY with a final note to speak up for the trees. Tell them trees matter in our neighborhoods!

The 9-member County Council will cast their votes on the urban tree canopy bill (Bill 35-12) and the Streets and Roadside Trees Bill (Bill 41-12) on Tuesday, July 23rd. At least 5 Council Members must vote in favor of the bills in order for them to become law. Your voice is important!

Please call the Council at 240-777-7900 and write the entire Council at County.Council@Montgomerycountymd.gov. Email sent to that address will go to all 9 Council members. Or write them via snail-mail at 100 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850. Ask for YES votes on both tree bills so that tree canopy lost can be protected or replaced.